productivity Archives – Resist Average Academy

17 Reasons Why You’re Afraid To Invest In Yourself

I still remember the moment. I’d gone on an intensive training on a whim, and my world had been ripped open.

And then they offered me the yearlong program —I was all in.

Except for one problem: the ticket price was $20,000.

Shit.

I had no frame of reference for this, and I had $757 in my checking account —and still hadn’t paid rent.

And yet, I was being called to do it.

The decision didn’t make any sense, I committed and doubled down.

It was one of the most powerful moments of my life and it had very little to do with the program.

(Although that was awesome, too.)

It had to do with the fact that I was telling myself I was worth that kind of cash.

Since then, I’ve invested over $200,000 in programs, coaches, seminars, live events and more.

The truth is simple: I would not be who I am today without investing in myself.

Here are 17 reasons you’re afraid to invest in yourself, and why it’s keeping you stuck.

1. You don’t believe you’re worth it.

Plain and simple: before that moment, I didn’t believe I was worth it. Putting that amount of money down was liberating: I chose myself, and I backed up my belief with cash.

There is no better way to declare you’re worth it.

2. You don’t trust yourself.

Often, once we trust someone else to assist us in our goals —we must be able to trust ourselves. Trust ourselves to follow through, get uncomfortable and grow.

3. You’re not truly ready.

Until you invest in yourself, you’re not truly ready. I’m not saying it has to be $20K, but if you aren’t willing to invest…

It’s simply not important enough for you.

4. You’re waiting to “have the money.”

This is the most common excuse I hear, and I’ve used it too. And yet: not having the money is exactly why you should invest in yourself.

What you’ve been doing is clearly not working. I recognized this, and knew I had to write a new financial story.

PRO TIP: Making the same decisions will lead to the same results.

5. You love dreaming, but not doing.

In a hyped up, motivational YouTube world —information is cheap.

And it’s free.

People love consuming free information and dreaming about their business, but they don’t love what comes after: the hard work.

6. You don’t want to be on the hook.

Once you invest in yourself, your dreams are on the line. You’re on the hook. There is nowhere to run. Nowhere to hide, and your excuses are no longer valid.

For many, this can be daunting.

7. You’re not willing to be resourceful.

If it’s important enough, we can all find the money. We can make it work somehow, someway.

But most people would rather spend the money on a leather jacket or Cancun vacation.

As awesome as those are, they won’t transform your life.

8. You want to stay the same.

Sounds crazy, right? Wrong. Most people want to stay the same. They fear stepping into their power.

Marianne Williamson said it best:

“Our deepest fear is not that we are inadequate. Our deepest fear is that we are powerful beyond measure. It is our Light, not our Darkness, that most frightens us.”

9. Your dreams haven’t become non-negotiable.

I was talking to JJ Virgin the other day, and she told me about the time she invested in a $100,000 mastermind.

She didn’t even know what it was, and had no means to do it: and yet, she ran to the back of the room, signed up and it changed her life forever.

Why? Her dreams were non-negotiable. They were binary. There was no chance they wouldn’t happen.

PRO TIP: Take yourself five years down the line. What is the cost of staying the same?

10. You’re letting fear win.

You’re afraid of putting money down and not taking action.
You’re afraid of declaring your dreams to someone else.
You’re afraid of being held accountable to your vision.
You’re afraid of achieving success and changing your life.

These fears are always out there.

11. You’re waiting for the “right” time.

So often, I’ll have discussions with people out one of my programs, and they’ll say the timing isn’t right.

Here’s the deal: the timing will never be right, you make it right.

Life won’t get less busy, the kids won’t be less intense, your bills aren’t going to disappear.

12. You’re not ready to be challenged.

The best coaching is a heavy mix of support and challenge. I push my clients and I tell them the truth: I point out where they’re playing small and listening to the bullshit voices in their head.

And I expect the same when I invest in myself. We all have blind spots, and I want people to show me mine.

13. You want to roll solo.

Good luck with this one. Can you do it? Maybe. But it may take 8 years, instead of 2.

I don’t know about you, but I’m not willing to pay the heavy burden of opportunity cost.

14. You’re not being honest with yourself.

We’re masters at not looking in the mirror. Often, I’ll speak to potential clients and they’ll sugarcoat their problems.

This lack of honesty serves a purpose: it makes them avoid making powerful decisions to transform.

Without getting radically honest, you won’t feel compelled to change and will continue to slide into mediocrity.

PRO TIP: Take honest inventory of how your circumstances are impacting every part of your life.

15. You’re entitled and want it free.

This is a charged word, but it’s true: people feel they deserve free coaching, mentoring and time from others.

A few months back, I received a message from someone who wanted two hours of my time.

I quoted them $750, and they came back with a rude message —because they “knew” me, they wanted it free (or discounted.)

What they fail to recognize is they wouldn’t do anything with free advice.

16. You want to keep playing small.

Investing in yourself is a bold declaration of trust, faith and belief in who you are and what you’re creating.

But it’s also a shift from playing small to playing much bigger —and not everyone is ready to play big.

17. You have a bad relationship with money.

We all have stories and beliefs around money —but people who avoid investing in themselves have a scarcity mindset.

They don’t understand money is energy, and energy is what makes this planet go round.

They don’t get that the same energy they invested is the energy that will come back to them 5 times over.

One Can and Will Change You

When I came home from the seminar, I was a changed person.

But I was also scared and nervous.

Six weeks after investing the $20,000 I didn’t have —we launched a new program in my fitness business.

We made $50,000 in one day.

If you had told me this would happen before, I’d call you insane, crazy and delusional.

And there is the beautiful lesson: investing in yourself is the fastest path to transformation and creating a radically different life.

8. Identify your daily big rock. I use this in my programs, where we identify the ONE THING that is not urgent, yet crucial to moving the needle forward. Do this before anything else.

What is your one thing? This book by Gary Keller and Jay Papasan changed the game for me and countless people.

This is not email, it’s not social media, or customer service.

It’s the one thing that creates a domino effect with everything else you do.

9. Plan your week, every week. Sit down on a Sunday, put pen to paper — and craft your week with clarity.

The amateur skips this, and wakes up Monday with no plan, no priorities and simply “winging it.”

(I’ve tried that, trust me.)

Instead, spend 25-40 minutes planning your week and you’ll never be the same.

10. Take inventory. Most won’t do this because they’ll realize they’re spending 75 minutes a day scrolling IG, another 90 minutes listening to sports gossip and then watching a TV show.

Why do massive brands close shop for a day and take inventory? Because knowing where you are matters. This is the same for our lives: take inventory of every area of your life and split it up into two buckets:

What’s serving you and what’s not serving you.

11. Create a new story. “I don’t have enough time” is scarcity driven. For example: I create time for the priorities in my life that are connected with my vision.

Examine your language with time, we all do this. Often, I feel overwhelmed with communication from texts and emails.

I always make sure to shift my language from being a victim of time to being a master of time and in control.

12. Track your usage. Moment for your iPhone will scare the shit out of you, and RescueTime will track your internet behaviors. If you don’t track, you can’t improve.

Track, track, track. I’ve sent RescueTime to hundreds of entrepreneurs.

Few use it, because they’re now on the hook and can see how much time they’re wasting on social media.

(It’s not pretty.)

13. Fill your day with high priority, intentional items. You won’t have any space left for the time vampires.

Show me a blank calendar, and I’ll show you a lot of wasted time and energy. When you fill your day with what truly matters, the non-essential fades away.

14. Delegate, automate, streamline and delete. Every single week, find stuff to release off your plate.

“But I don’t have a team, Tommy.” Cool story. There has never been access to cheap labor online who can do the stuff you don’t like doing for $10-$20 an hour.

PRO TIP: If you value your time, then you become a master at delegation.

15. Read Seneca, On The Shortness Of Life. This will wake you up to live with deeper urgency and purpose.

This text will change your life, if you let it. I read it once per quarter and it becomes required reading if you want to work with me.

16. Release the pressure of communication. You don’t have to respond to every single email within the hour…let go.

This is getting out of hand. There’s an unwritten rule that if we don’t respond to someone within a couple days, that something is wrong.

Let go of this pressure. I’ve recently added an autoresponder that tells people when they’re going to hear from me (if at all.)